psychotic
Americanadjective
-
Psychiatry. relating to, characterized by, or exhibiting psychosis: psychotic symptoms;
a psychotic patient;
psychotic symptoms;
psychotic delusion.
- Synonyms:
- non compos mentis, demented, deranged, disturbed, mad, mentally ill, psychopathic, insane
- Antonyms:
- lucid, rational, compos mentis, sane
-
(loosely) mentally unstable.
The man who threw a stone through the convenience store window must be psychotic.
-
intensely upset, anxious, or angry; crazy.
My dad gets so psychotic when I come home even a little bit late.
- Antonyms:
- self-possessed, calm
noun
adjective
noun
Usage
It is preferable to talk about a person experiencing psychosis rather than a psychotic , which reduces a person's individuality
Other Word Forms
- nonpsychotic adjective
- psychotically adverb
- semipsychotic adjective
- unpsychotic adjective
Etymology
Origin of psychotic
First recorded in 1885–85; psych(osis) + -otic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In 1925, Routledge suffered a psychotic crisis from which she never recovered.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
That so many people in Minneapolis have endangered themselves by waving phones in the faces of armed federal officers and shouting obscenities as if they were psychotic is one of many unhappy consequences.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026
As much as he may have appeared psychotic, he was also romantic.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2026
Standard anti-nausea medications often do not work reliably, he said, which sometimes forces clinicians to turn to second and third-line options such as Haldol, a medication more commonly used for psychotic episodes.
From Science Daily • Nov. 27, 2025
She felt it again—that familiar shiver, as if a psychotic snowman had crept up behind her and was breathing down her neck.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
